French-Canadian filmmaker Denis Villeneuve is coming off the massive success of “Dune: Part Two” and is cementing his future working relationship with Legendary Entertainment, who are the main folks behind the “Dune” franchise. Yesterday, it was announced by Deadline that he would be reuniting with Legendary for a feature adaptation of the non-fiction novel “Nuclear War: A Scenario,” a book from author Annie Jacobsen that covers the plans and logistics behind a full-scale nuclear war between the various superpowers that have massive caches of nuclear weapons ready to be launched at a moment’s notice. Ensuring the mutual destruction of every living being on the planet.

Here is the synopsis of the original “Nuclear War” novel:

An edge-of-your-seat non-fiction thriller for readers of American Prometheus by Kai Bird or Midnight in Chernobyl by Adam Higginbotham. The first rule of nuclear war is that there are no rules. Until now, no one outside official circles has known exactly what would happen if a rogue state launched a nuclear missile at the Pentagon. Second by second and minute by minute, these are the real-life protocols that choreograph the end of civilization as we know it.

If a single nuclear missile is launched, it could provoke dozens in return. Frantic calls over secure lines work to confirm the worst as armored helicopters are scrambled outside. Decisions that affect hundreds of millions of lives need to be made within six minutes, based on partial information, in the knowledge that once launched, nothing is capable of holding the destruction.

Because the plans for General Nuclear War are among the most classified secrets held by the United States government, this book takes the reader up to the razor’s edge of what can legally be known. Based on dozens of new interviews with military and civilian experts who have built the weapons, been privy to the response plans, and taken responsibility for crucial decisions, this is the only account of what a nuclear exchange would look like.

Nuclear War is at once a compulsive non-fiction thriller and a powerful argument that we must rid ourselves of these world-ending weapons forever.

That’s not it as Legendary also confirmed (via Entertainment Weekly) that “Dune Messiah” is also officially in the works after Villeneuve had been quietly putting together a script before the release of “Dune: Part Two.” Continuing Paul’s journey into starting his own galaxy war against the other Houses that wouldn’t take a loyalty oath after he made the Emperor submit and killed-off House Harkonnen’s Baron and Fyed.

Villeneuve is a busy guy with other projects on the horizon. Those include a “Cleopatra” film, and Villeneuve is also attempting to tread in the footprints of Stanley Kubrick with an adaptation of the Arthur C. Clarke (“2001: A Space Odyssey”) sci-fi novel “Rendezvous With Rama.” So, with that in mind, don’t expect “Dune Messiah” to happen anytime soon, and Warner Bros. has yet to give the sequel a release making it hard to predict when cameras could begin rolling.

SOURCE: DEADLINE & EW